Apple Inc Topples Coca-Cola as 2013 World's Valuable Brand, Google in Second Place, Blackberry Disappears

Apple Inc has surpassed Coca-Cola as the world's most valuable brand in an annual report prepared by Interbrand and to be published on Sept 30. Interbrand is a brand consulting and corporate identity company. Behind Interbrand is Omnicom Group that has been gathering data for its Best Global Brands report since 2000.

Before Apple Inc took the top spot as the most valuable company in the world for 2013, it was Coca-Cola that reigned supreme but has now dropped to third place.

Not only did Apple Inc replace Coca-Cola as the world's most valuable company, the Cupertino-based tech giant and maker of the iPad and iPhone, the company was also first among a list of valuable companies based on financial performance. This is the first time that Coca-Cola has dropped from the No. 1 spot.

Interbrand's global Chief Executive Jez Fampton said that Apple Inc's climb to the top may only be a matter of time. In 2012, Apple Inc held the Number 2 spot from 8^th place in 2011.

Interbrand said in its report for 2013 that every so often, a company can change people's lives not only with the products and services it sells but also its culture and values. Coca-Cola's reign as the Number 1 company in the Best Global Brands report has ended with Apple Inc taking the crown in 2013. Coca-Cola held the top spot for 13 years.

The Best Global Brands report estimated Apple Inc's value as a brand at $98.3 billion. This is a 28 per cent increase from the 2012 report. Although Coca-Cola's value also increased at $79.2 billion or by 2 per cent from 2012, it was not enough to beat Apple Inc's estimated brand value.

Mr Frampton has noted that Coca-Cola is still an outstanding and efficient brand, Apple Inc and other technology-based brands have become the darlings of the marketing community.

This may be true as the second most valuable company for 2013 is Google Inc. The Internet search giant climbed two spots to reach second place from 2012's fourth place. Just like in Boston Consulting Group's list of world's most innovative companies, tech companies have dominated the Top 10 Best Global Brands 2013.

Among the top 10 brands, 5 of them are technology companies. Microsoft remained in fifth place, while Samsung moved up one spot to reach No. 8. Intel dropped to ninth place after its eighth spot in 2012.

Mr Frampton said that brands like Apple Inc, Samsung and Google are continuously changing buying behaviour. They also change how people talk to one another and literally change lives with their products and culture.

Facebook climbed from 69^th spot to 57^th place in the Best Global Brands list. Blackberry has disappeared from the 2013 list after taking the 93^rd spot in 2012 down from 56^th place in 2011. Nokia dropped to 57^th place after finishing 19^th place in 2012.